Three top Pentagon advisers, who were fired this week after a leak investigation, said Saturday they had no idea why they were ousted.
Former senior adviser Dan Caldwell, former deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the deputy Defense secretary’s former chief of staff, said in an X post that they “have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”
Their public comments about an “unconscionable” and false firing add to a tumultuous week for the Pentagon. Joe Kasper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff and the person who signed the memo authorizing the leak probe, left his role on Friday for a different position.
POLITICO reported this week that the advisers were under investigation for a series of leaks that included reports about Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon, military plans for the Panama Canal, a second carrier headed to the Red Sea, and a pause in the collection of intelligence for Ukraine.
The former officials contradicted the allegations.
“Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door,” the former Pentagon officials said in a statement posted to Caldwell’s account.
They continued to express support for the “Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again,” but did not mention Hegseth, with whom they’d worked closely.
The former officials also said they hope to support the administration’s “peace through strength” initiative in “different capacities.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell did not respond to a request for comment.
The lack of public support for their former boss is notable. Hegseth remains under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general over whether he shared classified information in a Signal chat with national security leaders.
